JP2509990B2 - Taste modifier for sour substances - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a taste-modifying effect when an acidic substance, a substance exhibiting acidity in the mouth or a substance containing these substances (hereinafter referred to as a sour substance) is consumed. The present invention relates to a taste-modifying agent for a sour substance comprising a fruit of Curculigo latifolia or a dried product thereof, or a component containing curculin obtained from the fruit.

[Conventional technology]

As a substance that acts on the receptor membrane of the tongue to change the taste of food (taste modifier), it has been conventionally made to feel sweetness when it is eaten with a sweet substance or when it is eaten with a sweet substance. It is known that Gymnema sylvestre leaves and Gymnema acid contained in leaves and Ziziphus jujuba leaves contained Dizyfin are also known to be eliminated. It is known that miraculin contained in the fruit of miracle fruit (Synsepulm dulcificum) is one of the things that makes you feel.

Also, the Curculigo latifo
lia) is a plant belonging to the family Anthrush that grows naturally in West Malaysia and southern Thailand, and its fruits are known to be edible and have an appetite enhancing effect.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

The above-mentioned miraculin has the above-mentioned functions, but has a problem in stability and has not been put to practical use as a taste-modifying substance.

Also, the fruit of Curculigo latifolia is not known for properties other than the above.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel taste-modifying agent for a sour substance having a high degree of stabilization.

[Means for solving the problem]

The present inventors have found that when a fruit of Curculigo latifolia is eaten and then a sour substance is consumed, sweetness is felt and the fruit can serve as a taste-modifying agent that achieves the above object.

In addition, as a result of diligent research on what is the inducer of the taste-modifying effect of the fruit of Curculigo latifolia, the present inventors have found a novel taste-modifying substance curculin from the fruit of Curculigo latifolia. Kaisho 63
-153143).

The present invention has been made based on the above findings, and provides a taste-modifying agent for a sour substance comprising a fruit of Curculigo latifolia or a dried product thereof, or a component containing curculin obtained from them.

 Hereinafter, the taste modifier of the present invention will be described in detail.

The taste modifier of the present invention may be not only a fruit of Curculigo latifolia but also a dried product thereof, and the dried product is not particularly limited to its drying means,
Examples include sun dried products, hot air dried products, and freeze-dried products such as freeze-dried pulp.

Curculigo latifolia fruit and its dried products are
The form of use is not particularly limited, but usually crushed appropriately,
It is used after being crushed or made into a paste.

Further, the taste-modifying agent of the present invention may be a component containing curculin obtained from the fruit of Curculigo latifolia or a dried product thereof, and as the component, curculin extracted from the fruit or a dried product thereof, or Residues obtained by appropriately treating the above fruits or dried products thereof and separating and removing components not containing curculin can be mentioned. The curculin extracted from the fruit or its dried product is not limited to the purification purity at all, and in addition to high purity, it may be one containing a large amount of components other than curculin, or the extract contains other components. It may be a mixture of.

Extraction method of the curculin is not necessarily limited, but it is preferable to extract from a fruit of Curculigo latifolia or a dried product thereof with an aqueous solution of a salt having a concentration of 0.01 M or more, and as the salt, sodium, potassium, Calcium, magnesium or ammonium hydrochloride, sodium, potassium, magnesium or ammonium phosphate, sodium, potassium, magnesium or ammonium carbonate, sodium, magnesium, calcium or ammonium sulfate or sulfite, sodium or potassium Nitrate or nitrite, sodium or calcium lactate, alum, roasted alum, sodium acetate, sodium or potassium pyrophosphate, sodium or calcium pro On salt, sodium benzoate, fumaric acid - sodium, sodium polyacrylate and the like are used.

Then, a typical example of the method for extracting curculin with the above aqueous solution of salt is as follows.

After adding the above salt aqueous solution to the fruit of Curculigo latifolia or its dried product and homogenizing, filtration,
It can be extracted by centrifugation, etc., but since curculin is contained in the water-insoluble part of the fruit pulp of Curculigo latifolia, it is homogenized by adding water to the fruit or a dried product thereof, and washed thoroughly with water to dissolve in water. After removing a part, it is preferable to extract the residue with an aqueous solution of the above salt, because curculin can be obtained in high purity.

If the aqueous salt solution used for extraction has a concentration of less than 0.01 M, curculin cannot be sufficiently extracted, so an aqueous salt solution of 0.01 M or more is required. On the other hand, if the concentration is too high, desalting after extraction takes time, so it is not possible to balance the efficiency of extraction and the purification after extraction.
An aqueous solution of salt with a concentration of 1 to 1.0 M is preferred.

By desalting and drying the extract with an aqueous solution of the above salt, a curculin-containing substance that can be sufficiently put to practical use can be obtained, but the extract is further subjected to ion exchange with CM-Sepharose and purification by HPLC using a gel column. The purity can be increased and then desalted and dried to obtain pure curculin. Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned purification method, the curculin purity can be increased by fractionating the extract solution by a known protein purification method such as salting out, solvent precipitation or the like.

Specific examples of the curculin of the present invention thus obtained include a molecular weight of about 12500 daltons and an isoelectric point.
The protein of 7.1 is mentioned, and this protein exists as a dimer with a molecular weight of about 26,000 daltons. The amino acid composition of the protein is shown in Table 1 below, and the protein contains a relatively large amount of aspartic acid, leucine and glycine.

The taste modifier of the present invention may be ingested as it is, but can be used by appropriately blending it with foods, beverages, drugs and the like. The amount of the taste-modifying agent of the present invention to a food or the like varies depending on the use form and the difference in the food to be blended, so it cannot be said unconditionally, but usually, 0.001 to 1 wt. Selected in a range of parts.

The taste-modifying agent of the present invention further contains a substance having a bitter taste, an astringent taste, or an astringent taste, whereby the taste-modifying effect on the sour substance is further enhanced. That is, the taste-modifying agent of the present invention can have a stronger sweet taste by allowing a substance having a bitter, astringent or astringent taste to be present in the mouth at the same time as the sour substance. The substance having such bitterness, astringency or astringency does not necessarily have to be taken at the same time as the ingestion of the sour substance or the taste modifier of the present invention,
It may be ingested slightly before or after that and present in the mouth at the same time as the taste modifier and the sour substance of the present invention.

Further, a food or the like containing the taste modifier of the present invention can be processed into a powder, solution, sheet, spray, emulsion or the like depending on the properties of the food or the like.

[Action]

The taste-modifying agent of the present invention has the effect of acting on the receptive membrane of the tongue to make it taste sweet when contained in the mouth and then eating or drinking a sour substance. If the formulation or food containing the same is eaten in advance, the sweetness can be felt when eating or drinking the sour substance up to 30 minutes later.

Moreover, the taste modifier of the present invention itself has a weak sweetness.

〔Example〕

 Next, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples.

Example 1 1 g of Curculigo latifolia fruit was finely pulverized in a mortar to obtain a paste sample (taste modifier of the present invention). 0.5 g of this pace-like sample was included in the mouth and contacted over the entire tongue. One minute later, when 100 ml of lemon juice was included in the mouth, sweetness was added to the lemon juice, and an orange-like taste could be felt.

Example 2 The fruit of Curculigo latifolia was peeled, the seeds were removed, and only the pulp was taken out. The pulp was dried at 40 ° C. for 24 hours and pulverized with a mixer for 2 minutes to obtain a powdery sample (taste modifier of the present invention). 0.2 g of this powdered sample was contained in the mouth and contacted with the entire tongue. One minute later, when 0.5 g of 1-ascorbic acid powder was contained in the mouth, sweetness was added, and the sweetness masked the sourness, and a refreshing sweet and sour taste was felt.

Example 3 When 0.9 g of the powder sample of Example 2 and 0.1 g of citric acid powder were mixed in the mouth, sweet and sour taste and a good mouthfeel were felt.

Example 4 To 20 kg of flesh of Curculigo latifolia, 10 l of water was added, and the mixture was homogenized and then centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 30 minutes. After removing the supernatant, 100 l of water was added to the residue, the above homogenization, centrifugation and supernatant removal were carried out again to obtain a residue. Then, 30 L of 0.5 M NaCl aqueous solution was added to this residue,
After homogenizing with a mixer for 2 minutes, suction filtration was performed.
After collecting the filtrate, add 30 l of 0.5 M NaCl aqueous solution to the residue,
Homogenization and suction filtration were performed, and the filtrate was collected.

Next, the filtrates were combined and then centrifuged at 30,000 rpm for 1 hour to obtain a supernatant (cruculin crude extract).

This crude extract was desalted by ultrafiltration and freeze-dried to obtain a curculin-containing component.

Using the curculin-containing component, a coffee beverage was obtained by the following formulation, and this coffee beverage was sterilized at 140 ° C. for 3 seconds by a VTIS sterilizer manufactured by Alfa Laval Co.,
The container was aseptically filled to produce a sugar-free coffee beverage.

(Combined) Coffee extract… 2% Coffee extract… 8% Caramel… 0.1% Caramel bitter base… 0.5% Ingredients containing curculin… 0.5% Water… 88.9% When I drink this unsweetened coffee beverage, I don't feel any bitterness. I felt a stronger sweetness than when I ate and consumed only sour substances.

〔The invention's effect〕

The taste modifier of the present invention has a high degree of stabilization,
If the taste-modifying agent of the present invention or its content is eaten in advance, it is possible to have a sweet taste when eating or drinking a sour substance, and when eating a food that must be acidified for reasons such as preservability. It can be used for a wide range of applications because it can have a preferable sweetness, and by containing a substance having a bitterness, astringency, or an astringent taste, a stronger sweetness can be felt.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kenji Ikeda 7-35 Higashiohisa Arakawa-ku, Tokyo Asahi Denka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masako Miyake 7-35 Higashiohisa Arakawa-ku, Tokyo Asahi Denka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-63-277717 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A taste-modifying agent for a sour substance comprising a fruit of Curculigo latifolia or a dried product thereof, or a component containing curculin obtained from them. 2. The taste-modifying agent for a sour substance according to claim 1, further comprising a substance having a bitterness, astringency or astringency.